ANKARA: Turkey’s public debt in relation to gross national product (GDP) was below 26 out of 28 countries in the EU and the Eurozone last year, figures from Eurostat and the Treasury reveal. The EU’s public debt to GDP ratio was 83.5 percent in 2016, while the Eurozone countries had a rate of 89.2 percent. Thanks to financial discipline and effective debt management, Turkey’s rate was 28.3 percent over the same period. This performance gave Turkey a debt to GDP ratio lower than 26 of the 28 EU member states. Debt-ridden Greece had the highest ratio of all EU member states in 2016, reaching 179 percent. Following Greece were Italy with 132.6 percent and Portugal with 130.4 percent.
The Republic of Cyprus came close behind with 107.8 percent, and Belgium had a rate of 105.9 percent. Further down the list came Germany with 68.3 percent, France with 96 percent, the United Kingdom with 89.3 and Spain with 99.4 percent. Only Estonia and Luxembourg managed to drop lower than Turkey’s 28.3 percent, with 9.5 percent and 20 percent respectively. One of the foreseen conditions for EU membership specified in the Maastricht criteria is that the debt to GDP ratio must be lower than 60 percent, meaning that the majority of current EU members do not fulfill this condition.
